Myles William Brown was born on 21 May 1992 in Kloof, and he attended the Highbury Preparatory School and Kearsney College in Hillcrest. He swam under coach Graham Hill at Seagulls SC in Westville.

At the 2014 Commonwealth Games held in Glasgow, Devon anchored the 2x200m freestyle relay with the fastest split of 1:47,61, to help South Africa win a bronze medal. This, and breaking Ryk Neethling's South African 400 and 1500m freestyle records count as his most memorable moments in swimming 

He competed at the 2014 World Short Course Swimming Championships, the 2015 World Championships in Kazan, and the 20016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

At the 2016 Summer Olympics, he competed in the 200 m freestyle and 400 m freestyle events. In the 200 m freestyle event, he finished 13th in the heats with a time of 1:46.78 and qualified for the semifinals where he finished 12th with a time of 1:46.57 and did not advance to the final.

In the 400 m freestyle event, he finished 12th in the heats with a time of 3:45.92 and did not qualify for the final.

The 4×200 m freestyle relay team which finished 10th in the heats and the 4×100m medley relay team finished 13th in the heats and did not qualify for the final.

(L-R) Bronze medallists Dylan Bosch, Chad le Clos, Sebastien Rousseau and Devon Brown of South Africa pose during the medal ceremony for the Men's 4 x 200m Freestyle Relay Final at Tollcross International Swimming Centre during day four of the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games on July 27, 2014, in Glasgow, Scotland.

2012 KZN Awards evening - with Seagulls SC head coach Graham Hill

2016

Myles Brown trained really hard last year. He was eyeing individual medals in the swimming pool at both the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and the Fina short-course world championships (a 25m event) that took place in Doha, Qatar, in December.

When neither materialised, he was really disappointed – so much so that he decided to take a break from swimming. “The pressure and expectations [from within myself] got the better of me,” he tells me at a coffee shop in Westville, Durban. “I didn’t achieve what I wanted to do and it was quite a big disappointment for me. Straight after Doha, I took one and a half months off swimming.”

Brown spent that month surfing, playing golf and doing a lot of thinking. “A break is obviously not advisable for a swimmer, but for me it was necessary – to figure out why I was doing what I was doing and to regain my love and passion for the sport.”

The break seems to have paid off for the 22-year-old, if his performances at April’s South African National Aquatic Championships in Durban are anything to go by.

Brown dominated the freestyle events at the King’s Park swimming pool, speeding to gold in the 100m, 200m, 400m and 800m freestyle races. On the first day of the championships, he set a new South African 400m freestyle mark of 3:46.08, breaking a record set by Ryk Neethling in 1999. Four days later, Brown broke the South African 800m freestyle record set by Troyden Prinsloo in 2009.

Beating Chad le Clos

In between he caused an upset, beating Olympic gold medallist Chad le Clos in the 200m freestyle final. How did that make him feel? “He’s a great racer; he’s one of the best swimmers in the world. It’s kind of special to have someone like that in the swimming pool that you can race and train with,” said Brown. He and Le Clos are coached by Graham Hill.

“To beat him was great; it’s a step in the right direction. Racing can go anywhere – you never know what’s going to happen on the day. Fortunately this time I got the better of him, but who knows? On the day it can go either way.”

Brown’s times in the 200m, 400m and 800m saw him qualifying for the Fina world long-course championships – which will be held in Kazan, Russia, later this year – in all three events.

When I point out that although he doesn’t have a Wikipedia page dedicated to him (yet), his name frequently featured on newspaper street posters around Durban during the championships, he grins broadly. “It’s been a nice response after the SA champs,” he says. “I’m still fairly new to the international scene. I only started making the senior teams in 2012.

“I wouldn’t say I’m one of the big names in SA swimming, but hopefully in the new year I can be one of them, along with Chad le Clos and Cameron van der Burgh.”

Brown seems to be a modest person. Although he says he wasn’t an especially good swimmer at primary school level, he was offered a swimming scholarship at Westville Boys’ High School – widely believed to be Durban’s premier training ground for schoolboy swimmers.

However, his parents wanted him to give equal attention to his academic performance, so he chose to accept a scholarship at Kearsney College, a private school situated midway between Durban and Pietermaritzburg.

Gap year

“I would get up at 4:30am and go for training, then go to school till 2:30pm, then head off to afternoon training,” he recalls. “By the time you came home it would be 6pm – but from a young age, my parents instilled in me some core values like determination and always putting in 100%.”

The perseverance paid off and he matriculated with six distinctions before registering for a BCom degree in 2011. At the end of the year, he and his parents decided it was time for him to take a gap year so that he could focus on getting to London for the 2012 Olympics.

But it was not to be – Brown didn’t qualify for London; something he considers a blessing in disguise. “I don’t think I was mentally ready. I was very new to swimming on an international stage. I didn’t focus on the negatives. I stayed at home and watched the Olympics, and we had a very good swimming team.

“That was one of the turning points in my swimming career. After that, I really picked up my effort and ended up qualifying for my first world short-course event in Turkey.”

In 2008, as a 16-year-old, Brown had watched his hero Michael Phelps reign supreme in the pool at the Beijing Olympics. “It was truly inspirational to watch him,” he says. “I’ve always wanted to go to the Olympics and compete. I think it’s a great honour, and the pinnacle of a sportsman’s career.”

Could Rio 2016 be the realisation of a long-held dream? He smiles. “It’s been a goal. I won’t say I get up every day and think of it, but I just want to try to have a really good year this year, and carry that momentum on to the Olympics next year.”

Dennis Ford was a South African freestyle swimmer. He competed at the 1952 Summer Olympics and the 1956 Summer Olympics. He was born on 3 February 1931, in East London and died 1st January 2009. In 1994 he married 1956 Olympic medallist Moira Abernethy.

At the 1952 South African Swimming Championships held in Cape Town, Dennis won medals in all four of the freestyle events, including three silver. In 1953 he won three gold medals and one silver. At Port Elizabeth in 1954 he won the 220 yards and placed second in the 100, with a third place in the 440. In Pretoria the following year he placed second in the 220 and 440. 1956 saw Dennis winning third place in the 200m freestyle, and placing 4th place in the 400. He missed the 1957 nationals in Bulawayo (then already an elderly 26-year-old in full-time employment), while in East London in 1958 he was once again amongst the medals, finishing second in the 100m freestyle, behind 1960 Olympian Aubrey Bürer. He also finished 4th in the 200.

Dennis Ford took up swimming at the age of three, competed in his first race three years later, and joined the Transvaal team in 1950. Between 1951 and 1953 he won numerous Transvaal freestyle titles and broke many records. In 1952 he competed at four events at the Summer Olympics, three individual races (the 100, 400, and 1,500 freestyle) where he was eliminated prior to the finals, and the 4x200 m freestyle relay (alongside Graham Johnston, Peter Duncan and John Durr), where the team placed seventh. The following year he was South African champion in the 100, 400, and 1,500 m freestyle events. This led him to be selected for the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games, where he took home a bronze medal in the 4x220 yard relay (with Johnston, Duncan, and Billy Steuart) and was eliminated in the heats of the 110 y freestyle.

Ford returned to the Olympics in 1956, this time participating in two events. He was eliminated in round one of the 100 m freestyle and was eighth in the 4x200 m freestyle relay with Duncan, Steuart, and Tony Briscoe. Ford retired from active competition in 1960, but continued swimming until shortly before his death from cancer on New Year’s Day 2009. He was also a proficient water polo player at the Transvaal provincial level and was involved in numerous other sports. His second marriage, in 1994, was to Moira Abernethy, a bronze medalist in the 4x100 m relay in Melbourne. Outside of athletics he was employed as an insurance company clerk and was active as a conservationist.

Dennis was a graduate of the King Edward VII school in Johannesburg and a long-time member of the Old Edwardian club where he swam and also played water polo. 

Dennis Ford had been elected President of the Old Edwardian Society in January 1990. Perhaps best known as a swimmer, Dennis also played rugby for Old Jeds and hockey for the Society. But it was at swimming that his name will forever be etched in the annals of Old Edwardians. He was a member of the Transvaal team from 1951 to 1959 and between 1951 and 1957. He went to the Helsinki and Melbourne Olympic Games as well as representing South Africa in the Commonwealth Games in 1954. Some record.

O

obituary from the International Swimming Hall of Fame

Dennis George Ford, Passes Away

Dennis George Ford, South African Olympic and Empire Games swimmer, was born on 3rd February 1931 in East London, Cape Province, South Africa, and passed away in Johannesburg on 1st January 2009 after a two-month battle with cancer.

Dennis Ford was Captain of the Transvaal Team that won the Ellis Brown South African Championship Team Trophy every year from 1953 to 1960. Ford, who competed in both the South African National Swimming and Water Polo Championships for many years, eventually became known as Dennis"Old Man River" Ford.

His swimmer-coach partnership with his one and only Coach, Cecil Colwin, started in 1950 and lasted a record eleven years. Dennis Ford was a member of the South African swimming Team at the: 1952 Olympic Games, Helsinki, the 1954 Empire Games, Vancouver, and the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne. Ford was a Member of the South African men's 4 x 200 metres freestyle relay team that finished in the final at both the 1952 Helsinki Olympics and the 1956 Melbourne Olympics. Ford was South African Champion in 200 metres freestyle (1953), 400 metres freestyle (1953) and 1500 metres freestyle(1953)

Ford's coach, Cecil Colwin, who had seven of the eight swimmers selected for the 1956 South African Olympic team, was nominated by the Transvaal Province as Coach for the Melbourne Games but his nomination was refused by the South African Olympic Council on the grounds that Colwin was a professional coach and therefore ineligible.

Ford started his international swimming career in 1950 at the late age of 20 under the coaching of Cecil Colwin, who was then only in his second year as a professional coach. Colwin saw promise in the 6 ft 3 in youngster who had an easy 'run' to his crawl stroke, and encouraged him to train for the 1952 Helsinki Olympics, in which Ford was to compete two years later.

Ford's proudest swimming moment was winning a bronze medal at the 1954 Empire Games in Canada. Two years later, Ford swam in the Melbourne Olympics. Seven out of the eight swimmers in the Melbourne Olympic team were coached by Cecil Colwin, his four female swimmers coming third to the Australian and American teams in the 4 X 100 metres freestyle relay. One of the swimmers in that relay was Moira "Little Mo" Abernethy whom Ford was destined to marry in later years.

Dennis Ford also captained the Transvaal swimming team and held every provincial freestyle record during the 1950s. "He also played provincial water polo", said Moira, his wife of fourteen years. The two fell in love and married in 1994 after both their first marriages ended. Ford also played hockey, baseball, rugby, golf and bowls during various periods in his life, and continued swimming right up until he fell ill. His five children from his first marriage, two of them twins, have inherited Ford's affinity for water and are all keen swimmers and water polo players. Ford loved wildlife and spent as much time as possible in the wilds, working for the Endangered Wildlife Trust. Together with Clive Walker, Ford was one of the first people to collar elephants in the Kruger National Park.

Ford's lifelong friend Pat Cotter, whom he met in Grade One, described Ford as a strong, serious man with an underlying whimsical sense of humour. "Dennis was a man of integrity, and a popular all-round sportsman who was always willing to assist others," said Cotter.

Tributes to Dennis Ford:- From Billy Steuart, 1956 South African Freestyle Champion from 100 to 1500:- "I remember way back in 1951 when Cecil Colwin was training Dennis for the 1952 Olympics, Dennis did a workout at the King Edward School pool, in Johannesburg As a keen young swimmer then attending King Edwards School, I watched Dennis go through a gruelling session with Coach Colwin, and I came to realize how hard one had to work to be a good swimmer. I owe a great deal to Dennis who inspired me to be the same. Dennis was a great example for younger swimmers, because of his hard work, ethic and mature attitude. " (Note: Steuart joined Colwin's squad and became a direct successor to Dennis Ford when he won every South African freestyle title from the 100 to the 1500 in Durban at the South African 1956 Olympic Trials. Steuart later went on to swim for Michigan State University, where he won three NCAA freestyle titles.)

https://ishof.org/dennis-george-ford.html 

Carla was born in Amsterdam and moved to South Africa 1928. She learned to swim in Holland and had contact with world champion Rie Mastenbroek. In Pretoria, her coach was Jimmy Green.

She married Dennis Hewartson and later Basil William Hall (1961)

2018 Commonwealth Games - South African Bronze Medal medley relay team splits: Brad Tandy (49.70), Chad le Clos (50.10), Cameron van der Burgh (59.20), Calvyn Justus (55.79)

Calvyn Justus was born on 14 December 1995 in Benoni, and later moved to Durban, where he attended Westville BHS and matriculated in 2013. His coach at Westville BHS was Graham Hill.

Calvyn swam at the 2014 Commonwealth Games where he won a silver medal in the 4x100, and bronze in the 4x200 freestyle relay - although he only swam in the qualifying team during the heats for both events. 

In December 2017 Justus won the 100 backstroke at South Africa’s Commonwealth Games Trials with a time of 55.57.

At the 2018 Commonwealth Games, his split in the 4x100 medley relay bronze medal-winning team was 55:79. 

At the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games he was part of the South African 4x200 freestyle relay that finished in 10th place.

I joined my first swimming club at 10 or 11. It was, and still is, the best club in the country, and I’m still with them – Seagulls Swimming. I train under head coach Graham Hill, and he got me to the level I am today.’

Hill wasn’t his only inspiration, as Justus’s mom was once a provincial swimmer. It also helps when you have parents willing to wake up at 4 am to get you to training every day before school. ‘I have unbelievably supportive parents,’ he says.

Men’s 4 x 100 Medley Relay Time Trial

April 15th, 2016 

What an amazing performance from the four Olympic hopefuls as it brought the crowd to their feet, with the South African team finishing in 3:33.80, well under the required 3:34.70. Christopher Reid opted out the men’s 200m backstroke to lead off this relay with a 53,52 before Cameron van der Burgh took over in the breaststroke to split an encouraging 58,95 and handed over to Chad le Clos for the butterfly leg. Le Clos kept the pace going with a quick 51,59 to hand over to the younger Calvyn Justus in the freestyle – the man who won last night only to find out he had to fill this berth. Justus served his place on the anchor 49,74.

https://swimswam.com/south-africa-men-time-trial-sa-day-6/ 

Personal best times

CALVYN JUSTUS IS A MAN WITH A PLAN (INTERVIEW)

9 December 2015

Embedded within the South African contingent headed to the Netherlands for the Amsterdam Cup this weekend is rising star Calvyn Justus, a 19-year-old freestyle specialist who is striving to make a name for himself both in and out of the pool.

We featured one of Justus’ on-deck talents, that of artistic and informative vlogging by sharing his YouTube video adventure to Dubai and Doha as part of this year’s FINA World Cup circuit. The visual journey is just one of the many mini-features Justus has produced, which span subjects from swimming to travelling to art, all housed in his own YouTube channel.

In the aquatic realm of life, Justus is inching more and more toward the upper ranks of the international swimming scene, earning two relay medals at the 2014 Commonwealth Games and, most recently, making his first World Cup final in Doha.  Justus wound up finishing 8th in that men’s 200m freestyle final, but he plans on using that accomplishment as a springboard to move his way up the swim food-chain, with his eyes ultimately on a South African Olympic roster berth.

On the cusp of moving into the elite layers of international swimming, Justus has seen his times steadily improve, most notably in his 200m freestyle.  Within a span of less than 2 years, Justus knocked almost 3 seconds off of his LCM personal best, dropping it from 1:52.37 in 2013 to a sub-1:50 mark of 1:49.58 at this summer’s All-Africa Games. Justus is ranked within the top 5 in his country in the 200m freestyle and is currently positioned as the 2nd-swiftest 400m freestyler in South Africa.

In an exclusive interview with SwimSwam, Justus reveals what drew him to the sport of swimming, how the athletic environment is faring in his home country of South Africa, as well as who and what drives him to success in all facets of life.

Retta: Tell readers a brief history of your swimming background; when you started; when you knew you were “good”; what events you specialize in; where you train and with whom.

Justus: I first started swimming at my middle school around year 5, I was actually told I had to attend after-school lessons if I wanted to make the team as I was a weak swimmer, a year or so after that I was then told I was too advanced for the after school lessons and I should consider joining a swimming club. I joined my first club called NDSA and that’s where I guess you could say I started taking the sport very seriously and my dreams of the Olympics were planted in my mind. I began as a backstroker yet I later made the switch to freestyle. I swam for NDSA until I began high school at Westville Boys High School, the highest-ranked swimming school in South Africa. At this point I believed in order to take my swimming to the next level I needed to join arguably the best coach and swimming program in our country, Graham Hill, head coach of Seagulls Swimming Club, So in year 8 (14 years old)  I made the transition and I have swum for Graham with my Seagulls team mates ever since!

Retta: Describe your swimming personality.  Are you a fierce competitor? A laid-back saboteur? A high-energy, always amped-up athlete?

Justus: I think I’m a bit of everything but if I had to go with the most dominant trait I’d have to say I’m fairly laid back. I like to keep calm and collected before races, I don’t really like thinking about the race too much, I just kinda go out there and let my ‘instinct’ take over.

Retta: What is your most memorable achievement in the pool?

Justus: I would say winning a silver and bronze medal in the 100m and 200m freestyle relays at the 2014 Commonwealth Games my highest achievement to date.

Retta: Whom do you look up to in terms of swimming idols? Athletic idols overall?

Justus: I’m not sure I idolize any swimmers but ra I have huge amounts of respect for them, I have a lot of respect for my national team mates and I really respect some of the more humble swimmers that are Olympians and world champions. I say I don’t idolise any as it’s getting to the point now where I have to try my best to start competing and trying to beat them.

Retta: What drives your motivation? How do you keep yourself to keep grinding day in, day out?

Justus: Without a doubt its my hunger to make the Olympic team, It’s all I’ve ever wanted and dreamt of. The Olympic games is my sole focus and goal and I think once anyone is aware of a dream/goal its relatively easy to stay motivated and dedicated to achieving that goal.

Retta: Describe your YouTube Channel.  What do you post?  How often? Who is your audience?  Does it tie in with your swimming? Do your YouTube efforts reflect where you see yourself headed after your swimming career?

Justus: I’ve always had a huge passion for the arts and creation. I became very intrigued with graphic art/design in high school. In my final year I discovered the term ” YouTuber” and thought it’d be pretty fun to give it a try, My first few videos, well a lot really, were quite awful. It took me a while to find my footing and kind of decide what content I wanted to create. It wasn’t until this year really that I started getting more sure of my content and felt like it's starting to get on track, I still have loads to learn and figure out but I’m happy with the direction it's leading. I try to incorporate a large amount of my swimming life, especially when we travel to big meets etc. I get some really positive feedback from aspiring young swimmers and that really motivates me to keep creating these videos. I also create some more passion-driven and artsy stuff as well, there’s a lot going on, on my channel but I love expressing all my passions and interests in one place. Content creation and filmmaking is definitely what I want to pursue after my swimming career however at the moment they seem to be merging together quite nicely.

Retta: Any comments on South African swimming funding? Word is the federation is pretty stingy with $ and travel reimbursement.  How does this affect you, both on a practical level, but also on an emotional level?

Justus: It’s no secret our country battles with funding, It can obviously get pretty demotivating at times but they’re really trying to step it up lately, I really do appreciate the support we are being given and a lot of new opportunities have been created for us as of late. There are definite signs of improvement.

https://swimswam.com/south-africas-calvyn-justus-man-plan-interview/

Doing relay Justus

Awesome foursome Cameron, Chad, Christopher and Calvyn

16 April 2016

A RELAY team with the potential to win a medal emerged at the South African Swimming Championships here yesterday as Cameron van der Burgh, Chad le Clos, Christopher Reid and Calvyn Justus qualified as a foursome for the Rio Olympic Games.

Set a target of 3min 34sec to qualify for the 4x100m medley relay team, the four swimmers dipped narrowly as Justus, swimming the freestyle leg, stopped the clock on 3:33.80. Reid, who broke the South African 100m backstroke record earlier this week, got the team off to a good start with a split of 53.12 seconds.

 Van der Burgh was the star of the relay in the breaststroke leg, clocking 58.95sec before Le Clos posted 51.59 in the butterfly.

At the final takeover, Justus had to dip below 50 seconds to give the team a chance of qualifying but the 20-year-old held his nerve with a split of 49.74. An excited Van der Burgh said he believed the team had the potential to compete for a medal at the Games but it would require some blood, sweat and tears to get there.

“The main thing is we’ve qualified, it is a huge thing for us,” Van der Burgh said. “I believe it is our most competitive relay going into the Olympic Games. “We’ve got a lot of hard work but we have four months to feed off each other, work hard and work on those take-overs, get the splits down and understand where we need to improve.”

 Reid’s record-breaking swim during the 100m backstroke heats earlier this week set the relay plans into motion as South Africa finally found a backstroker to complement world-beating stars Van der Burgh and Le Clos.

“The head coach (Graham Hill) approached me two years ago and said we have the potential to have a really good relay team if a backstroker made the step-up and go 53-middle,” Reid said. “That has been the goal for me over the last two years, not only to qualify but to get the 53 and make the relay possible.

“I think it would be great for our country if we pull off another relay win or at least a medal like the boys in Athens.” This just left the team to find a freestyle swimmer to round off the team, and thanks to his title-winning swim in the 100m freestyle, Justus was selected to fill the high-pressure final leg of the relay.

Justus demonstrated big match temperament in the final with a new personal best of 49.88 to dip below 50 seconds for the first time in his young career.

“It is safe to say that was the most terrified I’ve ever been but when I heard the crowd going off for Chris when he got in, it went away and I was so excited,” Justus said. “It’s been my dream since I started the sport so I am on cloud nine right now.”